Safety razor



Jqme 5, 1945. N. TEST! 2,377,388

SAFETY RAZOR Filed June 1, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l N. TESTI SAFETY RAZORJune 5, 1945.

2 Shee'ts-Sheet 2 Filed June 1, 1944 I, nuwms R. W v w W 9&2:

Patented June 5,1945

SAFETY RAZOR Nicholas Testi, Boston, Mass assignor to Gillette SafetyRazor Company, Boston, Mass, a corporation of Delaware Application June1, 1944, Serial No. 538,321

(01. so -s) 9 Claims.

This invention relates to safety razors of the type having cooperatingblade-clamping'members between which a thin flexible blade is clampedand supported on both sides for shaving.

In one aspect the invention consists in a razor having relativelymovable cap and guard members which are connected so that they may beseparated to receive a blade inserted between them, and being of suchconstruction that they need not be entirely detached for that purposebut may be maintained at all times as parts of a connected assembly,thus avoiding the possibility of loss or misplacement. Also, theconstruction and arrangement of my improved razor is such that it may beutilized equally well with slotted closed-end blades or slotted open-endblades; that is to say, blades having a longitudinal medial slot openingout through one of the end edges of the blade.

With these and other objects in view, an important feature of myinvention consists in cooperating cap and guard members having aninterposed spring performing the double function of tending always toseparate the cap and guard members of the razor, and of frictionallyretaining a blade presented in shaving position between them, even whenthe cap and guard themselves are separated so that the blade issubjected to no clamping pressure. This contributes to the security andsatisfaction of the user in that having once presented a blade inshaving position, either by hand or from a magazine, he has assurancethat it will remain properly placed until he can conveniently clamp itfor shaving. Further. at the conclusion of the shaving operation, whenthe cap and guard are separated and clamping pressure is relaxed uponthe blade, he has assurance that the used blade will not fall out of therazor but will remain conveniently positioned for him to grasp andremove when he is ready to do so.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective, on an enlarged scale, of the parts ofthe razor and a blade in exploded relation. a portion of the razorhandle being shown as broken away;

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the razor on the same enlarged scaleshowing the cap and guard members separated and having a blade insertedbetween them;

Fig. 3 is a view of the razor in longitudinal section in conditioncorresponding to Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar sectional view of the razor showing the cap andguard in clamped position; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are views of the razor-head in cross-section correspondingto Figs. 3 and 4 respectively.

The illustrated razor in its general construction is of the Gillettetype, in that it includes cooperating cap and guard members shaped toimpart transverse curvature to a flexible blade presented between themand to clamp and support the blade in that condition for shaving. Itwill be understood, however, that the invention is not restricted tothat or to any particular type of safety razor but with suitablemodifications may be embodied in any safety razor employing replaceableblades.

The razor as herein shown is designed to employ a double-edged blade ofthe character shown in Fig. 1. This blade I0 is generally rectangular inoutline and provided in each of its four corners with a reentrant notch.The notches at each end of the blade define elongated unsharpened endportions II. The blade is sharpened along both longitudinal edges andprovided with a longitudinal medial slot I2 substantially as long as thesharpened edges of the blade and terminating in a curved transverseenlargement at each end. The slot I! has a central circular enlargementor aperture l3 and other intermediate enlargements shaped to fit bladelocating projections of different razors in which the blade is adaptedfor use.

The razor is adapted, in certain details of its structure to accommodatethe illustrated blade and it will be understood that for handling bladesof different outline corresponding change in construction of the razormay be made, all within the scope of the present invention. Thebladesupporting or guard member ll of the razor presents an upperblade-engaging face of convex curvature having outwardly and downwardlycurved guard teeth l5 disposed along both of its longitudinal edges. Atits right-hand end. as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the guard member isprovided with a shallow notch or reces 16 to facilitate presentation orremoval of a blade from the razor. A short blade-locating rib l1projects from the upper face of the guard member adjacent to the endcontaining the notch I 8. A central threaded aperture I8 is provided forconnection with the correspondingly threaded end of the handle and apair of clearance recesses I8 is provided between the central apertureand the other end of the guard member. Finally. this member is providedin its left-hand end with a pair of spaced notches 23 to receive spacedarms projecting downwardly from the cap member.

The handle of the razor comprises an outer sleeve or barrel 2| havingits upper end 22 threaded for connection with the threaded aperture llof the guard member. Within the sleeve member of the handle is placed aspindle 23 threaded at its upper end 24 for connection with the capmember, as will presently appear, and having spaced shoulders 25 whichcooperate with an internal circumferential rib 28 in the sleeve memberof the handle to limit the longitudinal movement of the spindle 23 inthe handle while leaving it at all times free for rotation.

Cooperating with the blade-supporting or guard member I4 is a cap member21 which is of similar outline but somewhat narrower than the guard. Theinner face of the cap is transversely curved in a concave manner forflexing a blade in cooperation with the convex face of the guard. It isprovided with a longitudinal slot 28 which affords clearance for thebladelocating rib l1 of the guard when the cap and guard are moved intoblade-clamping relation. Centrally the cap is provided with a threadedaperture 29 for the reception of the threaded end 24 of the spindle 23.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the cap member 21 has also a shallow recessor notch 30 at its right-hand end corresponding to and supplementing thenotch ii of the guard. At its lefthand end, as shown in Fig. 1, the capis provided with a pair of spaced downwardly-extending arms 3| whichsupport an underlying retaining plate 32 herein shown as formed integralwith the arms 3| and the cap itself, In the assembled razor, theretaining plate 32 extends inwardly beneath the guard member, and isapertured to embrace the upper end of the sleeve portion 2| of thehandle and thus constitutes a connecting link between the cap and theguard members. The downwardly extending arms 3| of the cap member arespaced to receive the elongated unsharpened end II of a blade as it isadvanced into shaving position between the cap and guard and to locatethat end of the blade accurately both transversely and longitudinally inthe razor-head; that is to say, the arms of the cap arrest the bladewhen its central circular aperture i3 is in registration with thethreaded aperture 29 of the cap.

A curved leaf-spring 33 is interposed between the cap and guard membersin a location between the axis of the razor handle and the lefthand endof these members. This spring is t ansversely curved on a radiussubstantially smaller than that of the blade-clamping faces of the capand guard members and so proportioned that it tends always to separatethese two members to the maximum distance permitted by engagement of thedown-tumed arms 3i of the cap member and the underlying plate 32. Ashallow recess 34 is provided in the blade-engaging face of the capmember and this recess is of such dimensions that the spring fits intoit in substantially flush relation when the cap and guard are clampedtogether. The curved spring has a pair of spaced perforations 35 whichreceive a corresponding pair of spaced pins 36 projecting downwardlyfrom the inner face of the cap member, these pins being received withclearance in the spaced recess is of the guard as'mase member abovementioned. The natural curvature of the spring is such that it cannotdisengage itself from the retaining pins 33 of the cap member so long asthe cap and guard are connected by the underlying plate 32. whenpermitted to do so, the spring maintains the cap member 21 in elevatedposition, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, in which the lower ends of thespaced pins of the cap are shown as maintained a substantial distanceabove the convex bladeengaging face of the guard member I4 thuspermitting a blade to be inserted and advanced beneath them. The forwardor right-hand end of the spring 33 is curved or beveled forwardly andinwardly and its side edges thus rise in a smooth curve from contactwith the face of the guard member. Accordingly, the advancing end of aninterposed blade will pass beneath the edges of the spring 33 and willbe yleldingly engaged between the edges of the spring and theblade-engaging face of the guard member.

In preparing the razor for shaving, the spindle 23 is rotated reverselyuntil its upper end is disengaged from the threaded aperture 29 of thecap member. When this occurs, the spindle drops by gravity until itsupper shoulder 25 rests upon the circumferential rib 26 of the handlesleeve. In this position the upper end '24 of the spindle is retractedbelow the surface of the guard member and the space between the cap andguard members is clear except for the bladepositioning rib I! of theguard member, which does not reach the inner surface of the cap member,and the retaining pins 33 of the cap member, which do not reach theblade-engaging face of the guard member.

The user is now free to insert a blade ll between the two blade-clampingmembers positioned as suggested in Fig. 3. This may be done either byhand or by discharging the blade from a magazine and in either case thepresentation step is facilitated by the notches or recesses l3 and 30 atthe right-hand ends of the cap and guard members. As the blade ispresented its advancing end ll first rides up upon the bladelocating ribI! of the guard member but by the time its end reaches mid-position, ithas passed over the blade-locatin rib and the slot l2 allows the bladeto settle itself upon the convex face of the guard member with the sidesof the blade straddling the blade-locating rib. If an openend blade isemployed, its two side portions will immediately straddle theblade-locating rib ll of the guard member, but in either case the bladeis located centrally in the razor-head and its circular aperture l3guided into registration with the apertures l8 and 23 of the cap andguard members.

As the advancing end I I of the blade progresses beyond the centre ofthe razor head, it passes beneath the bowed end of the spring 33 and isyieldingly and continuously clamped by the spring against the upper faceof the guard member. This yielding engagement of the blade continuesuntil the blade is fully settled in shaving position with its end iipositively centered and located between the downturned arms 3| of thecap member. The user is now free to lift the spindle 23, thread itsupper end 24 into the threaded aperture 23 of the cap member and screwthe spindle home, thus drawing the cap and guard members into clampingengagement with the blade, flexing it as shown in Fig. 6 and supportingboth of its edges for the shaving operation. Meanwhile, of course, thecur ed spring 33 has been flattened and forced into its recess 34 in theinner face of the cap member 21 and the retaining plate 32 has beenforced downwardly into spaced relation with the bottom of the guardmember, all as shown in Fig. 6. While the blade-clamping relation ismaintained by the cap and guard members, the blade-locating rib I! ofthe guard is received in the clearance slot 28 of the cap and the lowerends of the retaining pins 36 of the cap are receis ed in the clearancerecesses IQ of the guard.

At the conclusion of the shaving operation, the user may turn thespindle 23 reversely, disengaging it from the cap member and permittingthe spring action to separate the cap and guard members while the spring33 still maintains the blade frictionally in its position until actuallyremoved from the razor by the user. It will be seen that the rib l1 andthe spring 33 are spaced from each other at their inner endssufliciently to permit the spindle end 24 to move freely between them inbeing connected to or disengaged from the threaded aperture 29 of thecap.

It will be understood that the end 22 of the handle barrel is firmlyscrewed into the threaded aperture 18 of the guard member and that inordinary shaving use of the razor this connection is not disturbed.However, if it should be desired to disassemble the razor for repairs orspecial cleaning, the handle may be unscrewed from the guard member andin this case the cap may be freely removed and the spring 33 detachedfrom the retaining pins 36. The razor head is thus separated into itsindividual parts and its parts made freely accessible if occasiondemands.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail anillustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent:

1. A safety razor having cooperating bladeclamping members connected topermit separation for the reception of a thin flexible blade betweenthem, means for limiting the separation of said members, together with acurved leaf spring having a blade-engaging portion and being interposedbetween the said members and having the double function of separatingsaid members and of frictionally retaining a blade inserted in contactwith one of them.

2. A safety razor comprising a handle, a guard member fast thereon, acap member movably mounted above the guard and having a retainingportion extending below the guard, and a curved spring located betweenthe said two members and having the functions of separating them and ofyieldingly holding a blade in contact with said guard member.

3. A safety razor comprising cooperating bladeclamping members connectedfor limited separation to receive a blade inserted between them,

and a transversely curved spring retained between said members, tendingalways to separate them and engaging an interposed blade near itsopposite edges.

4. A safety razor comprising cooperating bladeclamping members connectedfor limited separation to receive a blade inserted between them, atransversely curved spring, and retaining means engaging the spring atan intermediate point between said members thereby leaving the edges ofthe spring free to engage a blade.

5. A safety razor comprising opposed bladeclamping members, atransversely curved spring interposed between them, and means forretaining said spring with its convex face in contact with one memberand {its edges in contact with the other member.

6. A safety razor including in its structure a guard having a convexblade-engaging face and a cap having a correspondingly concaveblade-engaging face, and a spring interposed between said members andhaving transversely spaced parallel edge portions maintained in yieldingcontact with the guard and curved longitudinally away from the face ofthe guard to facilitate the insertion of a blade between the guard andsaid spring.

7. A safety razor having opposed elongated cap and guard members, ablade-locating rib disposed between the cap and guard adjacent one endthereof, and a convex spring located between the cap and guard adjacentto the other end thereof and having spaced edges beveled to meet a bladeinserted endwise on the said guard.

8. A safety razor having opposed cap and guard members, a blade locatingrib on one member adjacent one end thereof, a transversely curved springconnected to one member adjacent to the other end thereof, and athreaded clamping device movable in the space between said rib andspring.

9. A safety razor comprising cap and guard members having respectivelyopposed convex and concave faces, the member having, the concave facebeing provided with a shallow recess disposed between parallelblade-shaping edges, means for clamping a blade between said members,and a curved spring interposed between them and shaped to lie withinsaid recess when 55 a blade is clamped in shaving position.

NICHOLAS TESTI.

